Santa Olivia

Jacqueline Carey

May 2009 · Sold by Grand Central Publishing

About this ebook

Lushly written with rich and vivid characters, Santa Olivia is Jacqueline Carey's take on comic book superheroes and the classic werewolf myth.

Loup Garron was born and raised in Santa Olivia, an isolated, disenfranchised town next to a US military base inside a DMZ buffer zone between Texas and Mexico. A fugitive "Wolf-Man" who had a love affair with a local woman, Loup's father was one of a group of men genetically-manipulated and used by the US government as a weapon. The "Wolf-Men" were engineered to have superhuman strength, speed, sensory capability, stamina, and a total lack of fear, and Loup, named for and sharing her father's wolf-like qualities, is marked as an outsider.

After her mother dies, Loup goes to live among the misfit orphans at the parish church, where they seethe from the injustices visited upon the locals by the soldiers. Eventually, the orphans find an outlet for their frustrations: They form a vigilante group to support Loup Garron who, costumed as their patron saint, Santa Olivia, uses her special abilities to avenge the town.

Aware that she could lose her freedom, and possibly her life, Loup is determined to fight to redress the wrongs her community has suffered. And like the reincarnation of their patron saint, she will bring hope to all of Santa Olivia.

Ratings and reviews

I loved this book. It wasn't extremely detailed with what the characters look like or who they were persue, like their backgrounds, but you're given just enough details to piece it together yourself. The author also shows you through actions how the characters feel instead of telling me. This story turned into my own playground for my imagination and its was gorgeous.

It wasn't HORRIBLE, but it wasn't great either. I'd read the next in the series if I was seriously bored.

Yes! Queer sci fi! Interesting and developed female characters! Boxing! What's not to love? I would LOVE this book to become a TV series or movie.

About the author

Jacqueline Carey's previous publications include various short stories, essays, the nonfiction book Angels: Celestial Spirits in Legend and Art, and the nationally bestselling series Kushiel's Legacy.